MY WITCH S2: F is for Freedom
by NotQuiteNormOld
Summary: and Capture. Will's secrets have been revealed and perhaps she has found a feeling of freedom in that fact. But Nerissa has already found a backup plan and pieces are falling in to place.. Sides are being formed and it's unclear who's in the lead.
1. Chapter 1

Nerissa had done what needed be; the poor boy lay unconscious at her feet, his head against the rocky, dry magma that had once burned but now only became part of the mountain floor. Her Khor growled every so often; the poor thing was hungry.. If she didn't want him that way, Nerissa would've long fed him the violet eyes that Miranda stared solemnly with - feigning a sense of pity for the boy. But Matt Olsen had spat his ugly words down a phone line, the wreak of vodka and something much more inducing of bile steaming off of him as he technically sought not only for an outlet..but an affair.

He'd picked the wrong woman.

And Nerissa watched as Will's eyes flashed up to the nightguard in silence; watching Caleb with anxious haste as she pressed to her ear a phone Will knew fine hadn't been at her bedside nor her home. Will remembered dropping it as the words spat back out at her. #_..You think I care! You think I fucking care, but I don't Will! You don't think I couldn't have anyone! You don't think I couldn't screw any fucking..#_

Nerissa was surprised to say the least, that she needn't even interfere at the time; the boy simply went on to describe how many other girls he could've contracted a topical disease from in the time he'd wasted on her. The boy didn't even technically say it. Will would have to guess that things were over, when Matt had seamlessly forgotten having the phone in his hand at all: going on to talk to the first woman he'd set eyes on. He'd certainly gone home with her tonight and Will clicked the phone and threw it aimlessly back against the drawer. No surprise, no angst, no disappointment. Nerissa grinned, "You certainly didn't love him.."

Of course, he had tried to force what he _'wanted' _from her.

**...**

There was something of a cruelty in the bitterness of the air in daybreak. Will couldn't pretend that there wasn't a shallow haunting and a deep preoccupation of trouble, though neither of those could revoke her right to smile, her bottom lip trapped slightly between teeth.. Matt already just a relief and of all things, Caleb had out his dagger; plunged into the carpet at it's tip, and his fist clenched around it, as the rest of his body strew limply across her bed and bedroom floor.

She didn't bother to wait, whether it be for morning or the epic protagonist before her, simply because there was no sense in waiting when everything she wanted lay before her; sat on the floor at the left of her bed, with his head lulling back on the Frog Prince sheets just past her toes. "C-Ca.."

A second thought beckoned her to bravery, as she recalled his reactions to all the movies where the Hero got his girl. He'd hated them, naturally, and Will was glad that he'd hated Cornelia; one of them eventually would have, but that only counted if he'd be as wonderful liking her. She thought he would. And everything had slowly warped to make Cornelia a little less narcissistic, and it seemed more like the girl had let her personality shine through, than Cornelia becoming something she was not.. Not that it mattered, and Will cursed her rebellious hair, as it hung past her face, where she'd found herself. Sitting over him. "D-don't touch her.."

She snickered then, no feeling of safety lost, as she pulled his head up to rest her legs under in a cross.. She missed his face. The sweetness, despite the flawless tone and shade.. The fact that she could see the slightest anxieties that laced within and knotted round his heart, even as his nose slanted, leading down – or up in the current view she had of him – to a priceless mouth that tended to exaggerate or take everything far to seriously.. Leading the other direction to thin lashes and peace-less eyes that flickered movement under his eyelids as he dreamed; the slightest frowning decent of his brow, to the centre of his face, Will used a silken touch to pull back rebellious, thick hair that never seemed to look mussed, yet always did. Russet eyes watched his whispered smile when her lips brushed his forehead. And what could Will do; she whispered back. "You saved me."

"Will.." There was no fighting the morning silence from then, for his eyes had found hers the second he'd breathed her name. And she found her morning smile fell, because the pain in his eyes made her want to cry; the sheer, loyal devotion, that Caleb put in his every glance at her. The fact that he had stayed, when Elyon would need him as much if not more. The fact that he really did find her wonderful, but in time he'd only find she wasn't worth it. But she knew – or ought to have known – better than to let her lip quiver and her eyes well in front of him. Caleb's fingers flew, to coarsely brush over her skin, only truly touching her when he pressed his thumb, upside down, over the corner of her eye catching the unshed tear. She didn't stop him, as he drew his fingers through her dirty tresses; tugging on them slightly as the back of his fingers fell back over her cheek. She only let her hand fly to take his away when he choked out whispers again, to destroy the silence. But then, with words like his, even the silence might ignore his beauty. He didn't know what he was saying. "Will.. Please, don't cry.."

"I'm not.. I just.." Every thought in her mind had been exposed, about how she felt of herself. About the truth that Caleb just wasn't seeing yet. He pushed himself up and turned to face her; him on his knees and he must've put the knife down. "Anyone smarter would have said something.."

Frustration rolled down her cheeks. Were she not lying, to say she had not been crying before, the truth was no longer so. She couldn't remember, whether she had been. She wasn't even smart enough to remember whether she had been. "Anyone smarter would have noticed, rather than moping because Matt Olsen had scored the best, most breathtaking, wonderful person whom I made the mistake of-"

"C-Caleb.." He stopped then, and she wasn't sure how she'd ever thought she could read his expressions, because all she could see now was a blur from her tears. But she'd gone all wrong. She'd thought he'd meant something wonderful, but.. "Am I your mistake..?"

"Will.. I was scared, and it was a war.. I didn't want to die.. I couldn't let everyone die.." She couldn't look at him, and she wish he'd let go of her hands, as new tears formed and she forced herself to listen; to face it: the truth. "I made the mistake of thinking it was my duty to save you, rather than being human or good or.. I didn't know what to do, and I didn't even realize what I was doing until-"

He stopped though, as soon as she'd bound herself to him; breathing in everything she'd lost and knowing that he wouldn't even mind his soaking shirt smelling like salty tears and her if she ever let go.

She didn't want to. But she knew what was real. "I am you're mistake."

**...**

"No.." There were a hundred words for his meaning; the highpoint, the crest.. She was the very _most _of him and he couldn't find any word for her in that moment. She looked sad and lost and beautiful. She was what he lived for. "You're my meridian."

* * *

><p><strong> <span>Meridian<span>: (adjective) _of_ or _indicating a period of_ greatest prosperity, splendor, success, etc.**

Caleb has just said that Will is the best part and highlight of his life.


	2. Chapter 2

Cornelia Hale didn't move nor comment, Yan Lin's hands shaking slightly as the fine porcelain cup was set down between them; a slip of golden liquid rolling down the side until Cornelia caught the droplet on her thumb, sliding up the side until her hand no longer touched the silvery lining to the china. Cornelia extracted the single hair she'd been eyeing on the table in front of her between her finger and thumb then, allowing it to fall in the thick mist of early atmosphere. "I didn't know that you were older. I thought that you said you were a guardian at our age."

"No.. No." Thin hands quivered with age, and much like counting the rings on a tree Cornelia let her eyes flash over the lines elegantly painted on the old woman's bones. Hay Lin would wake soon, Cornelia could assume. They'd been talking for hours through the dawn. "I would have been twenty. Nerissa near twenty-five. But Will needed.."

"I can't believe that you knew." Will was apparently something magical. Nerissa and her _'guardians' _were just something to keep the veil standing while Will..Will hadn't even been born and they had given Nerissa this power; Quintessence. Cornelia wasn't quite sure she understood, but they seemed to have _forged _it. The Congregation. But Will was born with it. "Well..Why us? I mean if Will's meant to be.. Why did you give her guardians? She doesn't _nee_-"

"_Kandrakar_ needed her, Cornelia." Cornelia felt her cheeks brush with colour slightly, her shoulders shifting in discomfort at how Yan Lin's voice had paled since..well, since the war. Yan Lin seemed softer, and her hair was fading from it's pure black. It made it hard to be angry at her. Yan Lin seemed so much calmer now. "And Will needed _friends_. We're not all as heartless to send her to war alone."

"Hay Lin could have died."

The grace of a smile that had been kind to Yan Lin's face dropped from the woman, and Cornelia felt her heart jump slightly as the china cup hit the table with a sound. A frown of disapproval on Yan Lin's face. "And Will probably would ha- She's barely a child."

"Then why did you have to send us there!" The pain leaked into Cornelia's voice, but she didn't care. It wasn't fair that they had to do this. It wasn't fair that no one had told them anything. It wasn't fair at all and Cornelia didn't understand how Will could be so special. "Will didn't even have powers!"

There were few things that could've been a reassurance at that moment. Cornelia didn't let her gaze falter though, as iced, glazed eyes hit against tired, black and aged. "I know. Cornelia, I know."

"Then how can you let us..?"

"We must trust our faith in the Oracle." Cornelia wasn't sure whether she could.

**...**

Miranda had been tasked, _faithfully_ pushing the young mortal body into the darkest corner of Thanos; Nerissa stealing something from the little Guardian Keeper that allowed her to warp the great caves of molten scoria into prisoners bars. He was heavy, the boy. He couldn't be far younger or older than herself and there was a certain choke that he induced with the scent of something like poison around him. When she'd first seen him, Miranda had thought that Nerissa had killed him, but now she could see his chest rise and fall as she closed his forgery of a prison-cell door.

**...**

"Are you..hungry or..?" Caleb had found himself meeting Will Vandom again, as a whisper of a smile threaded over her lips; not quite reaching her but coming close as he squirmed inadequately before her. Her own soft, rose tinted cheeks slightly burning; coyly nervous of kindness he doubted she'd been offered for a long while. Suddenly he could see and shamefully understand why Matt Olsen might've been such a wonderful alternative. The boy was the only person he'd seen actually liking her, or at least in his case showing it. Caleb could only feel a bashful humiliation in the same second that he'd resolved on getting her breakfast. He couldn't remember where anything was. "I..don't know what you like."

He hated the thought that she'd most likely changed her taste since he'd eaten anything with her at all.. He couldn't remember the blurred names of bright packaging.. And then he'd hardly eaten with her when he was here. She couldn't handle much spicy food. Everything he knew about her was useless and she only stared back until she slipped off the bed and started out.

"Will? Will, you don't have to.." He pushed himself after the little body, but found himself only watching by the time he reached the kitchen; his eyes watching her as she leaned on her toes to reach for something high. And then she seemed to stop, Caleb's eyes fastening to the girl's brow raising before Will hitched herself right onto the counter. Caleb pushed forward to investigate whatever she was doing, but she pushed her arm into the cupboard and he felt himself flushing deeply when a chair clattered to the floor behind him: Caleb cursed his cowardice at jumping back when the little creature shot out over her shoulder.

But then suddenly he was glad that he was scared.

He wish he was more terrified.

The smallest grin coyly making her confused beauty radiate; neat elegance in her clumsy morning smile. "I- It's my pet."

"You're what?"

"He's my dormouse, from when I met- Um.. He's my animal." Caleb felt his own grin reciprocating presence, suddenly remembering a lot as she pulled out the box because he was sure he'd heralded an infinite disgust for the coloured shapes she was about to eat. Surely they could never be good for a person, but he didn't say anything as she spoke more than he could hope for: perhaps he wasn't too late, even if he knew she was forcing the words and the smile. It hadn't reached her eyes. "I own him."


	3. Chapter 3

Vathek had been growing tired of counting days; Tynar had silenced quickly enough and it only irked him when a familiar feature stared into the bars of another cell. Vathek had watched her push the slumping body in and felt a grim anger as he grinned in her direction, "When did you become such a snake?"

Her gaze immediately drew to him and he acted as a foolish drunk of isolation. He hadn't eaten and didn't get to for days at a time, the water tasting vile when he was offered feeble amounts. The air stank of the sweet volcanic ashes and rage boiled his blood despite the cold that cursed against his pale blue skin. And she didn't even have the dedication to smile or comment; Miranda only stared at him. She knew who he was.

"You could give Cedric a run for his money."

"..Coming from a spy for every side."

"No one expects a spy of spying." Vathek had said it in all seriousness, but then he let the addictive grin grow as he let out a laugh. He knew what the sadists were doing, at least to some extent; dirtying the Guardian Leader's mind with hatred and pain.. "You'd be better doing the same. Come on, convince me you're on my side!"

**...**

There was no conviction in Irma, though she felt increasingly heavy as she breathed in the swirling steam that rose around her.. It would seem that there would be no serenity: the hot rain thundered down her back and at some point Irma had slipped to hugging her knees to her chest at the bottom of the bath, the shower's water's singes burning into her as she tried to force a forgiveness.

Perhaps, to some extent, it was because she didn't really understand - how was she to suddenly feel Will as her friend when Irma wasn't sure what had happened? She supposed that it was all that Irma could do to feel a pity, to feel a little guilty and to maybe try not to be as horrible. Cornelia had called her more things than could surface in Irma's mind, though everything had been working slower since the revelation had come out..a witch, Caleb had called her.. A witch..

**...  
><strong>

Miranda watched the crazed Galhot cackle at something that wasn't funny; her blood went colder every second that the lopsided grin cast over his face and she wish he'd stop. She wanted him to be quiet and to pretend she wasn't here. "You left Phobos then? Vicious spider..without any poison. I've heard you're not a biter-"

She hadn't even known what she'd done, but Miranda felt her body longing to shake. She hadn't been able to think and she was sure it was the Galhot's knife. She'd stolen it, when Nerissa wasn't looking, and now she hoped he'd remember that she wasn't just _evil_. She was a warrior. She'd barely glanced at Vathek, never mind the grey-skinned stranger far to his right. But she'd thrown the blade before she'd even made the decision and Miranda didn't bother to let herself feel sorry as he stared in shock at the silvery glint protruding from the centre of the second prisoner's head. It wasn't often she worked with weapons. "Yes.. Cedric liked you, didn't he.."

She was glad that Vathek's blood boiled more than even hers did.


	4. Chapter 4

If Will had lost all that was precious to her, Caleb only seemed to have claimed to her shame. It was exactly what she had wanted; all the weeks she'd desired for the contact, the concern she'd vainly reached of her deceiver. Will didn't know what she could say - now that morning had had it's chance to sink in and Caleb struggled to make her whatever she had thrown out of the cupboard - she hated the fact that he was here.

It was the realization that did it.

"It's in the fri- the white box thing behind you."

"Yeah.. I know what a fridge is." Caleb only sent her a smile before he went to pull out the milk carton. Will could only push back the clumpy rags of her hair from her face as she breathed. There was no doubt that he consisted of the grand and demure of her existence; for every bit he made her bashful, Will was aware that it was still much easier to say things to him. But a dread had scoured through her. Somehow in the catacombs of her frustration the only thing that was excruciatingly obvious as to why he was here..Will had forgotten how much better a person he was. Than everyone. The fact was pure and so simplistic that even her mind ought to have coped in deciphering.. The little of everything she had that she could give to him, Caleb would never notice the comparison to everything he did and had always done. He was better. And no matter whether he was in love with her or hating her, he'd always love her more than she did him. Even when he was wrong, Caleb was forever trying. "I think I get how it works now, too..a bit."

"_Great.._" She didn't mean it to sound as hopeless. How was she supposed to live up to him? The insecurity lay in Caleb's inability to see; to truly perceive that Will was a null comparison with him. She was just..nothing. Will stared away to the table as his face filled with dubious silence, she flinched at the soft noise of the bowl pushing over the surface before her. "_Thanks._."

It wasn't shaking. Will felt something hoarse in her throat when he pulled the chair over the floor, pushing himself to ignore her words and to simply sit opposite her, staring down at the menial food source. Will would never honestly have intended the blunt tone that was certainly thankless. And she didn't want to cry about something stupid again, staring down at the brown, crunchy sludge that she barely recognised as what she'd often favoured. It wasn't that she wasn't his mistake; eventually even Caleb would be forced past his kindness. "..Are you alright?"

"Can you just go!" She'd shut her eyelids over what she'd done and only mimicked to compete with silence until the chair scraped over the shiny floor again, and she could scrape the sticky mess she must've asked for into the garbage and lock the door and..and then she'd be alone all over again. "I..didn't mean that.. Please..don't."

Will found that she still couldn't open, unleashing the blackness behind her mind; her eyes remained pressed closed until sound came. It didn't. She considered whether Caleb might be gone then, with her deceptive senses missing the sight and the sound and the smell of him leaving forever..

"Caleb?"

"When was the last time you ate something?" The world crusted over at that moment and her eyes met his staring incredulously. Will had felt it; the pain that followed Caleb. Ultimately it was her she supposed, whether _for _or _b_ecause of_. _"Will.. When did you last..?"

**...**

Any change could be immediately noted. Frost and bitter resentment scalded the vast majority of walls throughout Thanos. Somehow molten filled the cracks in the surface, still bubbling wildly. _Frost _could hold no preference though, for he felt both in the heart of the brimstone mountain. But any change in the forsaken land was a shard of ice in the flame; mere sizzles rather than a scorch and the hunter smirked at the minaturesque. "Miranda.."

Violent lilac that he previously daren't cross turned sharper, but the girl didn't change just yet. Frost could read the pale and the mourning, and he grinned at the childishness that she could be so easily marred by the opposition. She'd been a fiend once, he knew that. But the rumour had it that Phobos had taken her after all. And after the Lord Cedric, no less. If she weren't a disgrace, Frost might see the resemblance to something worth having; and that came from the lesser picky for there was no torture braver than love lost. Miranda's womanhood was masked by the childly way that she was close to tears. "We're leaving."

"Oh, really?" And disobedient. Frost could herald a respect in a woman; Nerissa had the power and focus to do what she was needing of. The resentful hag was funding their trip, blatantly, and Nerissa seemed to be blind to their awareness as she worked for her comeliness and youth. Miranda neither held any skill, nor her tongue. Perhaps he would make a woman of her for such purpose; it was no surprise that Cedric had failed and the Prince Himself would see that he was above her. "On what grounds?"

"In nomine Phobos."

* * *

><p><strong>In nomine Phobos -<strong> In the name of Phobos.


	5. Chapter 5

Queen Elyon Escanor had long left Aldarn to himself, the sky still a deep blue despite the sun closing it's distance upwards. There was a peaceful serenity that clung to the gardens and Aldarn only knew the man who tended to them briefly. There was nothing that they could do, to allow the Black Roses' bloom to fall back into their lively forms. A hundred thousand people of Meridian lost, claimed to be living though Prince Phobos had told his sister that he had been lying; that they were dead. Aldarn believed him.

Caleb had gone, perhaps forever. No one knew where he was and no one willing to say anything. Aldarn might never have guessed it, but the meaningful looks being passed around suggested that everyone knew what they'd think he wouldn't understand. Aldarn understood. Caleb hadn't ever wanted to be here; he'd wanted to be dead.

Maybe he was.

Aldarn had found his place in the gardens, perhaps menial in comparison to the great flowing halls and ballrooms. It made him think of Caleb, though Caleb would never forgive the indirect comparison to his brother.. The grass indeed was greener here; the floristry of shocking yellows and pinks that perfumed the air around him taking him into it's palm. Aldarn had lost himself here, several times in fact. But he knew it now. He knew the roads of lilac and maroo- "Now don't you look relaxed."

Light eyes traveled to the source of the voice and Raythor smirked at the shock that refused to be quiet in his features. Aldarn's blood seemed to slow and he forgot all that he had learned.. All that he could think, as the clayish sand wrapped around him instantly, was that Caleb had been assumed gone..

Perhaps Aldarn hadn't understood.

That perhaps.. Just perhaps Caleb had been stolen. "DRAKE! DRA-Mngph!"

**...**

If it weren't for the silence, Caleb felt something tear at her wide eyes staring back at him. It had merely been noted, that Will hadn't had a chance to eat last night. She hadn't eaten at lunch; she hadn't been there and Caleb wasn't unaware of girls skipping their breakfast as Elyon had once or twice as to avoid running late. But she hadn't been eating at all. It was there in shreds of guilt and uncertainty that Will might've not eaten for days. "Iisoús! Gamóto!"

She'd jumped when his fist hit the table, and Caleb felt his pulse increasing as a shock spread through his body; again having grown used to the lack of physically torturing worry that Will seemed to unintentionally subscribe him to. It was a state of desperation: Caleb had no notion of what to say to her, because.. Because it wasn't appropriate for him to tell her everything and Caleb had never had a chance to figure out where the line was. If Matthew Olsen knew her value, really, Caleb would assume it a couple galaxies away. He didn't see her own state; the jump to her pulse when Caleb pushed himself from the chair, but he couldn't think. He wasn't..

"Rrgh!" He didn't know what she'd think of him; facing himself against a wall as he tried to banish the frustration. It wasn't fair, for him to be upset. It wasn't fair for her to think she'd ever done anything or been anything wrong or deceitful. None of it was fair and Caleb resented every bone in his body; he wanted to go home. He needed to sleep and in perfection he would simply be able to lie down and take her with him, lacing his fingers through her soothing tresses while the subtle scent she carried would lull him into submission. And it was awful of him to think of such things, but.. "Will.."

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't- I.. It's not like.. I just forgot.."

"I'm..not smart enough, Will.. I just.." He was lost without her. And that made being with her even worse. "I don't know what to do, Will."

"Stay."


	6. Chapter 6

I am late.. But so was my sister who was meant to come home to her kiddywinks at nine. She did so at quarter to ten. Grrr!

* * *

><p>It hadn't taken long for Taranee to decide to go. Hours alone had passed fitfully slowly; the thought that they might somehow be mistaken and the idea of some fake masquerading as her best friend threaded pensively through her mind as dreaded shock tumbled over any drifting wakefulness.. It was the cataclysm of those final moments that raged through Taranee's mind. The panic-induced haze of flashing bright lights and electrical shocks.<p>

All of that screaming. All of the hatred that seemed to be directed solely at Will, and by no means was Taranee regarding only the little rogue astral drop. It was only in the early hours of the morning that Taranee had realized that Will was still empathic. That every drop of annoyance Taranee had openly felt had been built on lies of her accepting Will that Will would know fine not to be true. That every time her heart fluttered for Nigel, who stayed at his father's upstairs every odd week, Will would know that Taranee had only used her as a hook because she'd been lured by him. And everyone had been doing it. And Will had been dying inside because of it.

It was clear now, why Will's mind had been encoded. Taranee felt guilt at every moment she remembered hearing things that didn't seem like Will. In another person's voice, no less! Taranee had just ignored it because she wasn't interested in what Will had to think anymore. And all that Taranee could wonder, was whether that was maybe why Will had stopped. Will had stopped thinking and talking and smiling. And everyone had blamed _that _for their distaste around her. It was the other way round.

Everyone had been picking at her since Will had stopped wanting to talk about Meridian.

**...**

The image revealed more and less than Yan Lin could understand. An unsettling truth in both the description and the content; Yan Lin's fingers traced the smooth lines on the page of her granddaughter's sketch pad, ignoring the burn of piercing blue eyes watching her. Cornelia was only afraid.. And Yan Lin wished that the girl could have a reason _not _to be. "Will did this?"

"No." Sharp, black eyes pointedly shot to the uncomfortable companion to her own and Cornelia's discussion. Hay Lin shrugged to withhold a sleepy yawn and the elderly woman felt a rage of guilt for her sake; Cornelia would never have any idea of the fears in Yan Lin. And that was before the graphite had been clumsily heaped onto the parchment to recreate Will's near-death and downfall. The Quintessence was unmistakable. And it was by no means what Nerissa was capable of. "It was her astral drop."

"You're certain?" The blonde frowned, pouting unconsciously as duplicates of her earlier questions arose as though to depreciate the value of Cornelia's answers. But they couldn't afford to be wrong. Caleb had gotten them to the Oracle apparently, though the ignorant blonde had been insistent that Tibor's description and The Oracle were that of the entire Congregation. Cornelia was a clever girl. She was trying. But Yan Lin even feared for Caleb, because the boy was too whole-hearted. Caleb would never see, because Caleb couldn't seem to accomodate the idea that balance had to include inferiors to some extent. Someone had to be in charge; an overseer to avoid the mass destruction.

Yan Lin glanced down again at Hay Lin's nod. Even with the faded pencil-sketch colours, Yan Lin felt a rush of awe at the works; she let the back of her nail glide along the dome of what would've been pure, ultraviolet energy that closed the girls and Caleb from saving her. Will had tried to strangle the drop - she had succeeded, apparently somehow - and then a miracle was Will's surviving the violent trips of blinding lightning that should have shocked Will's pulse still in a second: the counter attack ought to have been fatal. Except, only Will truly could have survived. "What was it? It was crazy! We couldn't get in and I mean.. Caleb basically threw himself into it and he might aswell have bounced! Nothing happened!"

"You said she died.." Yan Lin led her fingerprints over the shadow of figures; the brightness of the show didn't refrain the tragedy evident, and Yan Lin would commend her Hay Lin's ability to physically empathize with her art. And then there was that smudge in the background. Standing on the roof was Will's sanity. The hope clutched fearsomely in Nerissa's hands for the redhead. Yan Lin knew why Caleb was mad. What Kandrakar would've felt loss for. There was no doubt, that the Oracle had a far grander reason to shame the wastage, but Yan Lin only wondered if Will could've been free. Perhaps that was exactly why Caleb was upset: the thought that the copy was more menial than the originator, or the thought that the one holding power held importance.

Caleb was a copy, and by no means did he hold the power. But by equal lack, Yan Lin doubted Caleb would naturally recognise that he was the one who was free.


	7. Chapter 7

Prince Phobos had become genuinely fond of his imprisonment. Perhaps Elyon could see it in the fact that he whispered a smile, a shiver of a nod in greeting when she arrived and no ill-fated health seeming to have been inflicted on him by Karma. It looked false: the searing bars of energetic bindings that surrounded him and prevented his retrieval. Prince Phobos had never lived down his name; there would never be an ability for Elyon to revoke him his title. She must've been standing for hours now, Elyon was yet to say a word. And Prince Phobos only patiently allowed his gleaming eyes to cover his surroundings, preventing himself from deep thought but not giving her his full integrity. There was no impatience and Elyon was sure she'd wanted to see it. He seemed to have recovered from the lazy insanity that had frightened her longing when she'd gone yesterday morning. It seemed so long ago. "Caleb is gone."

Silver pools studied her silently, and for a moment she had expected him to grin and claim her deception. Perhaps he could see the faintest panic, because Elyon had lost him whether she was being guarded or not. In the solid year that Caleb had lived there and she not, Elyon could still see the mark of his strangeness; the inexactness of his fit into their world. Into this world. Anywhere. "Then I doubt he'll return."

She'd noticed that his wording had changed. He'd spoken so well and so long, and now his words seemed short and abrupt. The meaning seemed to simply be, whilst once his every syllable had been a riddle in itself - perhaps the lack of pressure, or perhaps the lack of anything to think about. Perhaps it was his own form of deterioration: Prince Phobos would slowly null into an unexistence, at which point she might finally look upon him and not feel the mournfulness that threatened a well in her eyes. The initial tears were for Caleb, she supposed; for the fact that Julian and Drake were still yelling when Aldarn went away, and the fact that Aldarn's father had been sent for, because no one could hide the desperation. But Elyon only saw Caleb as that structural flaw; her very heart appeared to be leaning on him and now the Queen of a secret world would like to break down and admit her everything. When Elyon Brown had been twisted, she'd become a darkness and not the Light that everyone was hoping for. And Caleb would forever be her first failure. _She _was the one who had lost him. "What is that meant to mean! Can't you do something!"

The Dark Prince of the Metaworld sighed, the most natural response that she had ever seen in his performance; he pushed platinum bursts of sleek highlights back, and she wish that she could appreciate his acceptance. She'd hoped for the names he'd called her yesterday, because no one would dare tell her she was wrong. How was she supposed to tell the difference? [0] "What would you expect me to do?"

Elyon bit her lip in the silence. A humoured breath being uttered as his fingers traced something of the cell wall.. But she knew, with some level of comfort, that the nearly-laugh was not at her. And yet she knew that he would spit on her if he remembered that despite herself, Elyon's heart was pounding.

"He'd have been far more compatible if you had ever paused the excruciating devastation of inviting him in." The steely eyes softly took in the rows of non-specific cells surrounding them. No one dared speak though, no one ever dared speak to her. "Elyon, he was only a youth."[1]

"I thought he was you."

And then everything changed and his smirk grinned with his raising eyebrow, "I truly pray you didn't tell him that.."[2]

Elyon hated the the sick Prince with all her mind. If only her heart and body might listen to it.

* * *

><p>[0] A possibly preview as to why Phobos might be being accessible - throughout the first season there is a nice big hint as to why Phobos turned out the way he did: no one was there to guide him at all because everyone expected him to simply do it, and obviously disrespect to royals might've cost you your head so everyone would be scared to tell him.. The point is that Elyon is unknowingly relating exactly to what happened with him. Except that she has an example of what can go wrong. And she is older. And she does, to an extent have guidance.<p>

[1] Some good old Phobos insight - that Caleb would have a chance to fit in if everyone would stop basically pointing out that he 'didn't fit in'.

[2] And of course a glint of sick humour.. I'm hoping it's clear enough he's implying that he prays she didn't 'hit on Caleb' because of their relation.


	8. Chapter 8

Gosh it scares me to write Drake as a grown up.. But no one wiser than the experienced, 'ay?

* * *

><p>The heat mixed with cold here; Aldarn scowled in the mismatched confinement as the undecisive pair of climates rolled over his skin, the minty green paling and shading simultaneously almost, confused by the distressing <em>un-nature<em>. Vathek growled from his left, the dank scent of death swimming around a body he recognized: Aldarn didn't dare ask Vathek what had happened. He'd never had much more than orders to say to the man who now seemed to be loosening in the mind so slightly.. But Vathek only smiled bitterly when Aldarn accidentally caught his eye. "Don't worry. They wont get away with this."

"Where's Caleb?" Aldarn ultimately ignored the fourth body in his presence, a limp older boy that resembled Drake's age; not to mention the vile stench reminding him of the ale that Drake had had a phase of seemingly bathing in. Inside out. His questioning gaze instead met cautious blues that considered him with the slight discomfort that Aldarn always felt. There was something that never stuck with him about a double agent. "..where is he?"

"Aldarn, Caleb.." Aldarn was not ignorant of the fact that he had spent the rapture of his life being pushed behind someone braver, a funny cue of which Caleb had set the example. But now he'd been forced to look away entirely and everyone would skirt around him as though he hadn't been there. In charge for a grand portion. Whatever they told him would only ever match what his mind could concoct on it's own. "If he was her, I never knew, Aldarn."

There was implication on Vathek's tongue, but Aldarn chose to brush away the thought of Caleb's decease. It didn't happen: Aldarn would know. "Then he ran away."

Vathek only swallowed, averting his gaze; not the Aldarn was trying desperately to be the focus as he pulse blurred slightly, a choking sensation gliding around his neck. And Aldarn realized now that they would all be too late and that it had been stupid to think of his father as being a good thing - that it meant they would quicker know he was gone. No matter where Caleb was though, Aldarn felt a burn in his lungs. He was all alone.

"YOU WONT GET AWAY WITH THIS!"

"She manipulated the Keeper, Aldarn." Aldarn's knees nearly gave at the gruff statement. Said regretfully as though Vathek truly did want all hope to be diminished. Aldarn could hear all that was to be said in that statement and he wondered if Vathek meant that _she _was the one to- To.. Caleb..

The hope struggled to survive in the limp afterthought of Aldarn's anger. Manipulation was no sin from the victim, but it was also the perfect crime. Caleb would have no defence from.. If she.. "..Will.."

**...**

"Will." Drake kept a straight back and made a silent prayer for Julian to hear the tension in _his _will. For the man to stop while he was ahead and for the stressful Julian not to say what never ought to be allowed uttered. The conversation had been bound to roll to blame, eventually, but Julian would not be able to comprehend if Drake merely raised his hands to motion to blame. Everyone had done it. Not _'that girl'_. "She was at no point the problem."

"Caleb never-"

"Caleb was _always _a problem before Will, Julian and you are only upset." Asimmer of heat began. He was never above humanity, but Julian's age of men and woman and respect was over. Apparently it was what Julian had missed when enslaved; evolution had brought the idea that a woman was equally as valuable as any man who could stand before her. And Will was a lot more valuable than that; Julian would forget that he _at least _owed her his life. And then Drake had a theory of how Caleb had wished for a father in the first place.

"Before she-" The tone in his voice alone was too much; Drake already knew that Julian had his own view of the world. It had been drawn by his forefathers and forefathers of theirs. Time had changed and Drake felt an impulse of anger for every time that Will was going to be tried for Caleb's faults.

"_He _attacked her! Caleb is not the son you wanted and you need to stop expecting him to be!" Aldarn had sulked, when Drake had told him to leave the room. The fears of the battle had taken Caleb and Drake had his own fear of why Caleb might ever have gone. The boy was no braver than any other and pressure didn't suit him, but Julian only saw that Caleb looked like every young man now. Aldarn would be expected to get married within perhaps two years now. And Julian kept pushing away Will like a cold blanket. "Caleb isn't brave, Julian! Caleb isn't very talkative, Julian, but Will is not up for your opinion of what a woman should look like! He was excited for you to like her, and now you are telling him to choose someone else!"

This is nothing to do with- That _girl_ is not coming back!"

"And Caleb can't stay here without her." Drake pushed the cool air through his nose; his eyes briefly darting to the sound of movement, but he shook it off and pushed himself to continue facing Julian. Didn't he see how lucky they were? "And Caleb can't stay in this noise.. People are telling him that he's a hero for the worst thing he ever did. If he never comes back, I commend him."

"Drake.."

"Don't you dare blame this on her."


	9. Chapter 9

The silence broke down inside of Caleb, and Will could see the boy trembling blindly as he tried to comprehend what might be needed. The iron curtain of noiselessness gently lulling Will into it's peace and a caress of a yawn fluttering just too far too commit to simply being. The air had grown, just as the day matured too; warmer, calm once again though his fearfulness radiated like a stranger having passed into his body. She'd pushed herself onto the sofa next to where he dropped to follow her, and Will wondered if he would ever speak to her again. If Caleb would ever stop being afraid of her; of being perfect and making everything perfect enough as if he had someone to impress. "It's not been this quiet in a long time."

Caleb stared at her then and Will could almost see the whirring clockwork behind his brilliant green eyes; his radiance in his expression of dumbfounded confusion, but she supposed it wasn't his fault if he didn't really know how to talk to people.. He didn't even think that he was real.

"Isn't it wonderful?"

Sleep was not trying to coil it's fingers around her, but the sweet stroking motion it tenderly swept her skin with brought a bliss that finally felt as though winter had ended. Will felt as though she might never want to move again and yet she feared the sheer thought of telling him of the simplest thing as a voicemail message. He worried too much and she feared that he'd think little of her. Matt Olsen had been clever enough, at least, to finally cheat on her and Will had stopped listening as a girlish voice tickled her chest for the fact that he'd wasted his time on her and he could have anyone. And Will already knew how Cornelia adored him; Will had been kidding herself earlier to ever think that Caleb would want to.. There was no way to feel it, but if she'd looked Will would see the inner struggle on Caleb's face. "..Why?"

Perhaps Cornelia wasn't good enough though. Caleb had intended to leave Meridian and she doubted he meant he would stay here.. Was his duty so much that he couldn't leave her? He didn't want to leave Will because she was hurt? "You didn't hurt me, Caleb.. Y-you know you didn't, I was.. Something happened and I.."

"Will, please, I-"

"I wish you'd tell me the truth." Caleb had given her a thousand words that jumbled and mixed into a single mass of brownish gunge and Will didn't bother to hurt as she listened for him. She was simply tired of waiting for him to take his time. "You tricked me.. I liked you so much and.."

"Will Vandom..." Perhaps the simple gust of happiness that went with his recollection, Will rolled her head to the side to watch him. The silence could wait. "I am an insanely good looking bachelor.. And you left me to fend for myself."

She hadn't known where he was going, but a smile would've come whether welcome or not; if only for the fact that she was so elated to see him smiling. "Was that a joke?"

"Until Drake got married, yes." Will wondered if he realized the shivers that she'd never thought herself able to feel again.. His thumb barely brushing the side of her mouth as Caleb used his hand to turn her to face him. And if the silence had broken Caleb's heart, he reciprocated the feeling in kissing her brow. "I love lots of things, Will.. But you're the only one I wanted to love me back. ..It's not my place, but that's everything."

If there was anything left to be dealt, Will might've cried, but she could only laugh dryly. Realizing her hypocrite and she knew that she couldn't keep secrets from him. She knew he'd never take it to mean more than that: the truth. "Matt and I broke up."


	10. Chapter 10

In a single rolling motion Miranda changed and grew; her spindly legs defying her gravity as Raythor watched her ascend the castle walls with a haste. It was in some great contrast; the delicate figure that Miranda possessed became so easily a dark threat against beauty. Her strength grew and her cunning silence infinitely proposed to him how lethal the young woman could truly be if she were to put herself to it.

If Raythor could point to one flaw, it would be the choice that Lord Cedric had made. There was no honor in the lie itself that was the wedging snake, but if Miranda had not been lied to the serpent might be freed today. Miranda spoke a bare minimum, but as far as he had told she had accepted the flaws in Cedric: it wasn't even of her interest to lose herself at all, but Raythor supposed that she had been young. And now she knew that the man she'd doted had killed her relation and was set on finishing the species. If Miranda were only to have one thing, Raythor respected that she would risk her precious little for the Prince.

"_When you have a son, you will understand!_"

"_Caleb is not your son, Julian.. We send no one. Caleb is a man, Julian._"

Raythor listened intently to the words that slipped from the room, noting the impression that part of their job might be done for them. Except that Miranda didn't seem to be one for loose ends; Raythor supposed that her pride set on showing Nerissa her capability, so he only nodded to those behind him. They were ready. "On my word.."

**...**

There was a cool presence overshadowing her every step as Hay Lin padded toward the bathroom. Hay Lin was tired of the pain; not intending to offend it, but she was so tired. And a world of promise lingered in the haze of her still dreamy conscious, dancing in her imagination as she wondered what her grandmother meant. Hushed words to Cornelia which flowed from the moment her elder had shooed Hay Lin away. _'If Will was right..'_

_'Will was fine!' _The lost words seemed to echo around her, before each thought seemed to be plucked from her mind. It was a new sensation of forgetfulness, but she liked the pleasant gush of energy swirling around her as though to reward her inability to hold onto those little things that she heard.. What she heard..

Once again, for she had taken to it, Hay Lin blinked as a gush of warmth spread through her; happily moving on with but a shrug of her shoulders as her memories were whisked away by an unknown force.. Except, Nerissa wasn't truly unknown. Hay Lin had simply forgotten.

**...**

The peace became forgotten in a moment. Slam. Bam. Hurt. Go. Gargoyle grinned massively as he crushed the castle walls; smash.. Hit.. Wreck. "YOU SHALL NOT HARM THE QUEEN! ATTACK!"

Black spider threw her web. Gargoyle grinned more widely as they struggled. Raythor forwarded and the words were too far for Gargoyle to hear. Yelling. He heard yelling. Gargoyle threw what he had been gifted - boils of rock reforming what was a hand once - into the stone walls. Crush went what was on the other side. Sand seeped across the room and spider became a child. Raythor called his word after the boy who'd shouted and continued to try. "I shall not..today."

The job was done. It was time to go.

Gargoyle fisted the small man and boy who struggled.

The little Miranda stepped forward, but light fell over her. Gargoyle kept walking. Frost kept walking. Raythor stopped, but kept walking when the voice rang out, "Miranda! Stop this!"

"The Queen is here! Get out!"

**...**

Elyon had frozen in fear, the moment she realized that Miranda was not alone.. But the men and the sandman and those _Knights of Vengance_ kept walking on as the bubble formed around the spidery form. Elyon's dull grey eyes met violet and she wondered why it didn't feel any better to have caught her.. Except.. "Julian.. Drake.. Where did you-"

Caleb. Elyon's mind flew to Caleb and her heart seized; the bulk of her royal forces instantly drained when the great monster had knocked down the wall. And Elyon had acted rashly, but Miranda had been spotted. And it was all her fault and now Julian and Drake and..

"BLUNK! BLUNK I NEED YOU TO-" Elyon cut herself off as she came to face with Aldarn's father, who quickly remembered his place and fell to his knee, bowing. But she didn't have time. She'd do this on her own if she needed to. If it was the only thing that would help her avoid the fact that she'd virtually lost her entire guard in half a day. And God only knew whether _they _were being trampled as well by now.

Still. Aketon's eyes rested on her and Elyon straightened her dress, clearing her throat. Regal poise had never been her prime.. And nor was Will Vandom.


	11. Chapter 11

Elyon Brown's focus lingered on the dignified young man before her, waves of emotion driving through her to overwhelmingly fuel dread, relief and a touch of nostalgia for a life where she would never feel the weight of responsibility on her shoulders. Or more importantly, surrounding her. Claustrophobia and suffocation being her least problem. His perfect features crossed blank, before his face fell in embarrassment. Elyon didn't care what he'd done. Tears were forming in her eyes. "Ely- Your Highness."

Anything that Caleb had intended to say must've evaporated with Elyon's resolve. He choked out in surprise when his Queen forgot her grace; Elyon swarming his built shoulders in her arms, only to find her humility staring her in the face. But Caleb was here. Not trapped or on the run; he was here and he was alive.. Perhaps Elyon had done th right thing. Perhaps Will was the best and only hope that she had had. But dull brown eyes bore into her solemnly, creating a new paranoia that hadn't been there before. Will was always so watchful, so quiet.. So judgemental. Elyon's arms tensed slightly around his muscular physique, before she withdrew herself; stepping down from her tiptoes and smoothing her feeble t-shirt as his flawless frame straightened once 's eyes blistered her soul. "I.. Will, you need to.. Julian and Drake have been captured!"

Electrifying grren orbs flew to her with an instant startle and unease, and Elyon wondered why Caleb was here.

"The Knights of Vengeance.. We didn't know.. They crushed half of the Royal Guard in one move!" Elyon felt herself babble, but it wasn't her fault! She didn't know what to do and murky mud-coloured eyes never left her. The tears more readily forming. "I had to-"

"Was Aldarn there?" Elyon blanked as Will spoke far too serenely. Elyon opened her mouth to bark in reply, Will's ridiculousness - had Elyon _said _Aldarn was there? - but Will only watched her with almost concern. " The Royal Guard.. He's in the-"

"No." Elyon paled a little in modesty: maybe Will wasn't being so ridiculous. Caleb had seemed compelled by the question; relieved by the answer. Elyon shook her head, having known that Aldarn would've immediately been at her side. _They _were guarding the castle; Meridian's freedom and sanctity. Aldarn, though, seemed propelled to focus protection on her: she was their _'saviour'_. "He wasn't there."

She'd never have gotten close to the danger if he was. Immediately Caleb recovered the daze that had seemed to be coating him in it's mist since her arrival, "We'll set up whatever's left of the troops.. Start a search, and did you order a recount of the men?"

"W-what?"

Elyon found herself flushing as he paced slightly; she wondered if he had always been like this when he had led the rebellion.. But now he only seemed to turn away to prevent some blunt motion to her, "_Counting heads._ Gods, Elyon! Who knows if Julian and Drake were only taken? You ought signal the men! Given them charge! They don't know what to do without their captains! These are rebels, they wont know protocals and what will happen if your troops don't follow legislation, as of _you_?"

"S-sorry.. I.."

She wasn't even sure what Caleb was saying for parts, but he only turned again, pushing his fingers through unruly hair. "Sorry.. Sorry! Your Majesty, I didn't.. I'm not used to.."

But Caleb seemed distracted with the girl; a phone to Will's ear.

**...**

Cornelia felt a sharp end to the silence, as a gentle buzz came from her jacket pocket; she pulled out her mobile and it took her a few moments to answer the phone. "Will..?"


	12. Chapter 12

From the end of the phone line came only a clatter and then the dial tone, fear encapsulating Cornelia as a thousand-thousand situations ran through her mind. The dread on her face must've been evident as Yan Lin stared with unease and doubt in her sharp, black pupils. Cornelia ended the call and tried to slow her pounding heart.. Why had she thought that Caleb would be enough? "We have to go."

**...**

"We have to go!" If he had spent the morning begging for Will's vocalism, he regretted all of the inner praying now; her hand fisted and her arm tensed as she tried to pull her wrist from his grip. She knew better! What if it was a trap? What if it was the witch and what if the witch was waiting for when they were busy? "You can't go by yourself! She said the entire Guard!"

"It's not your concern! She said _half __of _the Guard!" Every moment became more painful as tears more openly built at her eyes; clear frustration as she desperately failed to wrench herself from his own strength, but if she pulled he was only more likely to end up holding tighter and he agonized over the distance between her anxiety and real pain for how he held her arm closer to him. She couldn't go! He couldn't let it happen again! "What about Vathek!"

"That wasn't **_my fault!_**" A tear streamed down her cheek and his own fear brought him to let go; he couldn't stand it, the thought that she was afraid of him. It tore his very insides apart to know that she still put her duty first. It burned them to dust to know he'd just let himself say that; her screeched reply only gaining a perturbed expression from Elyon. "It's my job!"

"Your job is to close portals!" The words seemed to be flung from his mouth like bile; he couldn't stop the things that he was saying, but Elyon's presence just made everything harder. What Will had said.. What Will hadn't.. _I loved you_. Everything bounced around his mind and he knew it was a lie if he said it; that there was no excusing in trying to explain that it had always felt like his job to protect her. She wouldn't understand. "You were never supposed to go there!"

She was clutching the wrist he now knew he'd held too tightly; he must've held it too tightly, and Will hung her head as apologies surged through his mind. Words of how he was so, so glad that she'd gone to Meridian. That he had come to Earth. But they never got a chance to surface as her chest rose and fell - elegantly pushing the panic that he could empathize with blissfully, and staring at him with hard eyes despite the tears there. And he knew she was trying her authority. "Don't _touch _me.. This is _my _job and it is _my _house and they are _my _friends too!"

If only because he'd never meant to fight her in the first place, Caleb stared at Elyon's grey eyes instead as the tone came out almost moodily. He didn't meant to sound evasive. He didn't mean to hurt her. Didn't she know how important she was? And apparently Aldarn was the only one left. "Fine.. Whatever, if it's not _my _choice."

Elyon seemed to liven when he heard Will picking up the phone. He wasn't in the mood to hear what her Royal Majesty had to say. "Aketon was there.. And I caught Mi- one of them."

**...**

By the time the second word had spread around, it didn't really matter. The fear and dread was like wildfire, while reassurance took it's time in dousing: the guardians would only be fuelled by their adrenaline. The Oracle meditated in silence, for not even Tibor stood by him. A whisper of a smile on his lips. Balance came not from only the world, but their harmony. What he could not foresee, the Oracle trusted was meant.


	13. Chapter 13

Miranda stood a little taller, adjusting and smoothing the taille of her dress at the abdomen as the older man stood, watchfully. The Queen's departure had been swift, once Miranda was incarcerated, but the young woman refused to allow her own stately dignity falter in such a prison. The clever bubble had been warped into a thick cuboid barrier - if Miranda had tried, she doubted that she would be able to escape, but still she refused her desperately pacing heart the satisfaction of panic.

It was with her chin parallel to the cool marble floor, her eyes to her captor and her queen, that Miranda poised her handicap of being imprisoned. And if the young girl knew any one fact it was that her Majesty would never take to the idea of being treated as an equal. Miranda's amethyst eyes had watched the former-_Princess _squash Will Vandom like a piece of meat had been lain before her. And Elyon had been smart; the girl had told Miranda things that she would never dream of knowing, the technicalities of a kitchen for one of them. Perhaps this was why, despite the semi-unpredicted, it was the unbalance and shock that came when Will followed in _after _the murmur-man. Miranda swept the surprise to the side and smiled gracefully; she'd learned the look from royalty himself and the poor boy's eyes drew to it. Her. But there was no room for pity here. "Well, my my.. The entire bombardment of vigilante warriors are with us?"

Miranda didn't allow the interest to feign through as the Guardians of the Veil stood behind what had once been a proud warrior. They didn't have any idea what they were up against. If the _'Knights of Vengeance' _could rule over them, Nerissa was only wasting her time in waiting. Violet, amethyst eyes settled judgementally on the Queen.

"Could we not recover forces ourselves? Or have we realized our place in civilization?"

"Tell us where you've taken Julian and Drake!" Miranda rose a thin brow almost coyly, honestly taken by the abrupt and direct manner that bluntly stated Elyon's worth. It was in no state effective, but surely moreso than that of the youth simply fawning over what she'd chosen to imprison. The lies that were held, imprisoned in bars. They would grow. Darken. Elyon would never stand a chance against Nerissa's ambition, but that was only concluded as the irony bypassed the Light; "You traitor!"

It was for that comment that she smirked; her fingers smoothly running up the inner case of the bubble in what might've been close to gaudy, though nothing in comparison to the Queen. Miranda took her time in practised mannerisms - she had learned her lot from the despicable serpentine - and drew her lavender-flecked eyes to rest on Caleb's mouth before she spoke and rose her gaze to his. Taunting his tearing between division - the guilt in him wanting to save what was on the other side[0] a mere segment fraction of her infliction. She verbalized every syllable. "_Don't_ forget _Aldarn_. You don't want to forget Aldarn."

"You-" He stopped himself before Miranda brought her middle and forefinger to her collar at the centre; pulling taut the skin left bare as she drew to her shoulder, fiddling briefly with the silky sleeve that lay there. _Silk _being a word of strength, considering the ghastly material, but as Earth had it's perks Miranda had found few. Nerissa seemed to be sure she could buy her recruits and Miranda let the witch think it. "I thoug-"

"No, Caleb.." Miranda bit her lip and let the foul betrayer pay. He had promised that she would never be hurt again; the ignorance only perturbed her because she'd been desperate enough to believe it. And it only made it much easier to feel the silent, tear-stained eyes on her. Miranda tried to think that it was only he she was hurting. Caleb was simply a silly little boy anyway. "Don't."

It was the Queen herself who stepped forward, and Miranda cursed that Elyon didn't let the redhead do her job: surely it was in no manner Elyon's place, but then, neither was the Prince. "What do you want?"

"Well.. The general outline is that I will be freed." Miranda's eyes drew to the watching blue eyes of the blonde as she forced another smile she didn't much feel like sharing, "Caleb leaves with myself, and we.."

Before anyone could protest, Caleb had nodded his curt head and Elyon removed the bubble barrier.

Miranda pat the royal sovereign's cheek. "And by that, I mean the _royal _we; get the chance of very possibly hanging a few criminals in the vision of her Guard.. Or not."

"Why should I trust you?"

"I'm going, Elyon."

Miranda smiled, but suddenly she wish he'd denied her. "Then it's settled."

**...**

Will watched in silence, feeling a numb shell encasing her as her empathic genes proved to allow; denying herself even her own feeling as the seductress that couldn't look more than Caleb's age simply held her hand out with dignity for what Will had also denied herself. As though feeling her eyes on them, Caleb's eyes finally left the teasing girl - a prickle of sensation aching through as Will stubbornly turned her head away. She would never admit that he was right: she would never tell him that she regretted her coming here. "Well..?"

Will despised the soft voice, that of a young woman rather than a girl. A certain elegance carried and Will didn't wonder why moss and emerald bordering yellow flashed back to the foreign princess. Not that she was, the girl just flaunted that image of herself. Will only remembered that Caleb hadn't wanted her here; where claims of himself were revealed for what they were. Will didn't want to look anymore. She was taller, and by means far far more intelligent by her speech. The girl could barely move and speak volumes. Will desperately screamed to be heard..within the depths of her mind.

And then the familiar sensation made her jaw tighten; her lips tensing into a line as Cornelia's had once frequented. She could feel the warm pressure of Caleb's hand on her back as his lips mingled and pressed on the last strands of hair at her forehead. She didn't meet his eyes because he already knew. "I'll be back.. I'm..sorry."

Her gaze startled to where his voice had come from, but only stared as his back descended with what represented her hope. Literally in the hand of her enemy, though she didn't much know who the young woman was. Her voice barely reached for Cornelia right beside her; never mind the others further away. "..We have to follow him.."

"We will, sweety.." Will didn't want to say that she hated being called such a thing. Her mother called her such a thing. "We will."

* * *

><p>[0] She means herself here. She's on the other side of the bubble-barrier.<p> 


	14. Chapter 14

Thick misting apprehension seemed only to fill the faces of those he passed. Caleb stared forward, but even _his _gaze was caught by the sadness at watching him leave. There was a heavy melancholy to follow the departing body's decent; Aketon could only fist a hand to stop himself from visibly praying, the boy's capturing eyes strained to continue looking to him. Aketon didn't know the deal. He didn't like it.

Caleb was an exceeding boy; a pride for his still humble brilliance causing Aketon to mourn the anguish of a foolish mistake. The young Queen had pushed their hope into the hands of her betrayer: Miranda was known for speed rather than cruelty. "Proséfcheste stous theoús."

A prayer to the Gods for his safety.

**...**

An anticipation followed Caleb, once there was no familiar gaze to look to. Once the quiet followed her submissively, and Caleb followed it's tracks. A cool breeze danced through the long grasses of yellow and nearby forestry hummed out it's calm. The sunlight softly lingered on his back. If it were not as beautiful, Caleb might doubt his decision. If it were not for her grace and her surety, Caleb might think that she had doubted hers.

Of course, Caleb would finally have chance to rethink this opinion; the young woman - as she had claimed herself to be - finally spoke again when tranquility surrounded her. Her small voice laced with anguish, regret and pain as she whispered. "Why would you do this?"

Caleb stared then at her back; the brief intersection of space between slim shoulders held upright, and Caleb almost instinctively found himself in awe of her body: of all of the creatures he knew from heart, there was only a secret as to how she changed. A secret he had no privy to. The slender shape of a belladonna so easily shaping into such a form as her second. Amazement was the only true expression for Caleb's reckoning of such a power; a gift. "You brought me here."

"I wasn't thinking!" Desperation rang through and Caleb swallowed. He wasn't entirely sure of her pain and Caleb wish that she would see that she was on the wrong side. There was a familiarity in the frustration she showed and in a second the pure regality became menial, though Caleb didn't think her tears were any less dignified. "You're never going to beat her anyway! You can't even beat me!"

Caleb frowned at this, unsure of whom she was talking about. But the thought was gone in a moment as she effectively dug her blade into his skin..

"I've won! Don't you see how easy this was?" Caleb felt a petulant anger beneath wondering; there was no reason for her to be upset and yet the tears flowed anyway down her pallid cheeks, the tint of rose beneath her eyes as she pushed them away. Refinement seemed forgotten, and for that case at least, Caleb was glad. Though perhaps his high opinion ought be siphoned. Unlike herself, when Caleb spoke it was in statement, rather than accusation.

"You built the Knights of Vengeance."

"Silly swine." He felt an irk when she turned her nose at him, clearly throwing his words to dust. "I am no legion. I work for the name of Prince Phobos."

"Then you are no friend of mine."

"You don't know him!"

That was it. An anger flashed through him as Caleb fisted her shoulder; his remembering of self dissolved as her eyes widened fearfully. "You obviously don't know who I am! I gave him my chance! I bowed to the prince!"

**...**

There was a quiet in the air that could not be shooed away. Taranee's surprise lay in Caleb, because _hero _had simply been a form of sarcastic remark to them until now. There was no time, no plan and Caleb would know: no real way to win this.

If he lived, fate would've been kind to them.**  
><strong>

**...  
><strong>

Miranda felt her humility, having had seen and know his truth. But Prince Phobos had been ruled; the Light had seized within him. "You're her only hope you know.."

Emerald eyes slit through her and penetrated the remorse, because the little girl didn't deserve this. There had been no fair groundings for the Keeper and Miranda supposed it was the purpose of her words. Of her testing. She'd hoped that the Knights would be secured; she would be where she belonged. Nerissa was undoubtedly likely to leave them now, because Nerissa's _'Knights' _held no importance.. And Miranda would know. That Meridian was strong enough, at least to some extent that would protect the Prince's treasure.

There was little concern for Elyon, and Miranda had done all of the wrong things because of this foul boy. He was the only one apparently fighting. His decision was rash, but so had been hers.. There was only a question of his motive and if it were loyalty, a chance might be stood. The little Will wasn't fighting anymore. [0]

* * *

><p>[0] I wast to explain: Will isn't fighting for Caleb. Miranda was flirting (partly to embarrass him and taunt Caleb for wanting to actually save something as evil as she bla bla; you read it) and it was Elyon who stepped forward: Will simply stood silently. Miranda is trying to find some hope that the "good guys" will be able to beat Nerissa, but Elle is letting her down by acting anything but authoritative Queen - she let Miranda walk all over her at times. Will is hopeless and Miranda feels sorry for that, but <em>Caleb <em>is still fighting. He has a hope. Miranda's only concern is whether he'll be loyal enough to beat the enemy, or did Caleb just follow her for other reasons.


	15. Chapter 15

Miranda didn't allow hesitation, and yet it found her at his lips; slight fingers draped over his shoulder and her glimmered eyes on his rough lips because Miranda feared the look in his widened, luminescent eyes. Her own rogue, deep pout lingered before his quivering lips that were by no means as brave as the man apparently. Miranda found that she couldn't. In the deep skies of light sunlight gleaming at them, she only pulled her gentle palm up the line of his deep bronzed skin; over his shivering neck as he tensed and trembled very timid.. Miranda simply couldn't bring herself to take it from him, if not for the ugly critter she was.. Miranda found weak, milky fingers tracing his cheek and knew that she'd like to.

That was why she couldn't. "..I don't even know your name.."

Miranda seethed calm and breathy air, her hand refusing to lose his face just yet because she was a vile, constant betrayer; his callous skin was gold. Her thievery was only a sin and, perhaps she knew that there was no other way now. But she had lied, also. Caleb would be faithful. It was in the tone of apology; the longing was merely hers because his own fingers shook, strongly pulling hers from his face. Miranda would kill all hope if she took him.. But now.. How could she not? "You don't need to."

"Please.."

"Just keep walking." Miranda spat the words out, but emerald only searched her wretched, sickly body before moving on. There had never been a doubt that he would be loyal; there was no way for him to forget the lusting red, vivacious and bright though now dimmed.. Miranda only swore herself to blend into the background. She always did. Eventually.

**...**

Aketon watched the delicate beauty with a surrendering heart; it was of main the expression hidden beneath her swept strands of sleek and incandescent blonde hair that the man found himself relating to, and Will could feel it all. The affliction burned through her and her thought followed that of Caleb, until of course russet, mahogany eyes found Cornelia's, at which point the tired girl's mind flushed around the thoughts of the piercingly soft, blue eyes.. Deeper eyes, too, followed the gaunt frame that pushed her denim-clad leg beneath her on the throne-like furnishings of the castle. Irma Lair thought of the reasons she could not forgive Will. The reasons that Will had never looked Caleb in the longing emerald eyes. And a thick mist fogged around Hay Lin as the girl contemplated the selfishness, the surprise of Will and Caleb.

But no _one_ other could know every part as she did. Taranee's skilled art danced wistfully between their minds and she felt her heart growing weaker. The dark cloud of mournful sympathy was of which Caleb truly deserved. But Will didn't deserve Irma's desperate need to blame. Will didn't deserve the man, Aketon's wishful want for someone stronger to lead in saving his sons[0]. Will didn't deserve not to know, that along with sympathy, Cornelia stared in wishing to be in her place. Will didn't deserve Hay Lin's surprise, that Caleb would ever even look at someone like Will. Taranee didn't deserve what Will put out to the universe, since the _'Nerissa' _was apparently gone. Taranee didn't want to know what Matt had done to Will. What Nerissa had done to Will. How Caleb had yelled at Will, even if Taranee herself could see the possibility of his desperation that ran through words burned into Will's mind.

Taranee didn't like to look at Will. Because she knew that Caleb had scared her and that the raw lank to her was because Will had quite simply _forgotten _about eating. Because she knew that in Will's perspective, the girl would not swear on remembering anything..even herself. Because there was a dark place that had made home in Will's mind, and the girl didn't seem to have the strength to close it over. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe not.

Will didn't seem to think she would ever be with Caleb again. Maybe she was right.

But Will didn't seem to think that he'd want to help her, if Caleb knew of such a thing. Taranee needn't look into anyone's mind: Will was wrong. Because Taranee had learned after too long that Caleb's heart alone was an open book. He'd help anyone, the only thing ever stopping him being fear of their reaction. Caleb shut out people he thought would hurt other people intentionally. People who wanted to break the world, and people who wouldn't change. Caleb would never shut out Will.

And Will would never shut out Caleb. The fact was assured when Blunk flew into the room; sent for from his home and _'mama'_. Cinnamon glazed eyes turned in searching, and Cornelia was the one first to stand. "Let's go."

"Guardians, uni.."

**...**

A creamy-white face wouldn't look at him, but Caleb's grassy eyes watched carefully through her neat and fine black hair that seemed far shorter than any true woman ought to have. He guessed that the Prince let her do as she liked and a curiosity formed in the fact that he was glad; it suited her as it was. The pressed line of her rose-tinted lips reminded him of Cornelia in many ways, it reminded him of Will, today.

In some way, Caleb might be overcompensating. She had almost lunged for him, and she had been the one to drop herself away. But Caleb could feel his heart and his pulse pounding faster than they ought to be, and maybe if there hadn't been Will. She was beautiful. "I.. I think you're lovely."

"You forget who I am."

"..Exquisite." There was a pause; of her body and time, the trees at the edge of this landscape breathing abashedly, the hushed swallows of air that braved weaving between the bark trunks and the long distanced scent of lemon that barely came from somewhere else, never being truly the fruit because the fresh scent ought belong to Earth. Her eyes stared quite clearly at the grass that led for yards, a frown barely brushed over her features. He didn't want her to think anything, but what she was. "All of you."

Her tone was hard and irk rattled through her wording.. He wish the ease of words would only have come when it had been needed. This woman only seemed to be suppressing some _anger_. "Clearly, you have forgotten yourself aswell."

"I'm in love with her." The blatant truth was harder than it ought to be to say. "I'm sorry.."

"As if I could care, it's not _my _business."

Caleb hated that she threw up her nose at what he couldn't seem to say to _her _face. "..right.."

And now he never would.

* * *

><p>[0] Those being Aldarn primely, but also Drake and Caleb of whom he had grown fatherly to.<p> 


	16. Chapter 16

"Blunk close! Blunk very close!" Deep tawny eyes swept the bindings of thick forestry surrounding them; the sunlight slowly making an early departure, not that it would be seen by them anyway. And the widee-eyed passling simply grinning, elated that Caleb had not in fact made the decision to walk away from them. Except that Caleb had planned it. And Will hated that his nobility impelled her heart to pound.. She couldn't.

Will reminded herself of the things he'd said; the words that he'd been saying. Will demanded the crystal memoirs of the quiet stare he had embedded into the young girl. The criminal. Will oppressed the urge to vomit her words of fury: false claims to Caleb that she didn't have the right to say, all because Cornelia spoke first. The passling, Blunk, had stopped. "Why are you stopping? You said we were close!"

An illness came over Will, resembling something of facing the brown sludge of cereal that still lay untouched on the table. He hadn't really been concentrating properly. It was pity: pity motivated everyone and Will ignored that everyone else was warm. Pity kept Caleb with her, or had failed to because even Caleb needed something more than pity. A sombre longing curled around her throat as snide looks hit her back at a constant. No-one really cared. They just felt guilty because they'd done this to- N-no.. Will shook her head and ignored the few pairs of eyes that flashed over her. She could feel it. Closer.. Closer.. Closer.. "Will?"

And closer and closer and closer and closer and- "Move! Now, I've gotta go! I've gotta-"

"Will! We're gonna lose him!"

"Can't lose." Will's eyes flew to the passling as the buzzing drone in her ears filled her soul with despair and she knew what it was; who it was. Blunk only shrugged and she knew. _Nerissa.. _"Lost."

"Wait, you lost him?"

**...**

Drake found that a darkness had clouded the bare cell. They hadn't known that Aldarn was here at all and the boy shivered in the heat and the coldness surrounding them. Drake despised that Vathek gave a curt nod. Drake despised that Julian paced the cell. Drake pulled away his overcoat and pushed it onto the younger boy, because no matter what anyone said, Aldarn didn't have to be a man yet. "Aldarn, how long have yo-"

But Aldarn's eyes widened on something else. "Caleb."

"What?"

"Caleb!" Drake barely turned in time to see Caleb's face hit the solidified rock and for Frost to grunt behind him. Julian pulled him up in a second and Drake winced at the look in Caleb's eyes..that wouldn't look at them. It wasn't fair that Caleb had to face them at all, when Julian pushed concerned hands to fumble over the boy checking for.. Something wrong.. "Caleb! What happened! Where have yo-"

"Caleb!"

Emerald shot onto Aldarn, who leapt forward and tugged him into embrace. Vathek only frowned and grunted behind them as a swirling nausea filled Drake at the thought of Elyon. Aketon was due to arrive, but these knights.. "We assumed the worst.."

"Vathek, you told him Caleb was dead?" It was sounding far too much like the palace kitchens to Drake and by his expression, Caleb felt the same way. They were in a cell, for the sake of Hades! "What were you thinking!"

"The Keeper is corrupted!"

"No!" Everything slowed then. Vathek had spat and Aldarn had paled and Caleb's eyes screamed out his defiance. It was never going to work; there was already a dead weight of body in the room and Vathek had stated that someone else had been hauled out already. Drake raised his hands in defeat, because Caleb knew far too many ways to defend Will's honor and he would.. Whatever Vathek meant. But Caleb seemed to shrink back on his own. "She's sick. Don't say that. She'd never do anything to-"

**...**

"How _dare _you! How _dare _you go behind my back!" Nerissa spat every word, feeling her pulse quickening as the little girl shook under her gaze. Miranda desperately reached for her strong defiance, but only fear pulsated from the girl and Nerissa dug her nails into the girl's jaw, holding her to face Nerissa. And Nerissa hated the creamy skin of the girl and Nerissa hated the look on Miranda's face that told her everything about that last prisoner of _'Phobos'_. "You stupid girl, what are you trying to prove?"

The insolent piece remained silent and the men around her stood to attention. There was only one protection, but Raythor was a clever man..not worth the risk of his departure yet, so Nerissa only let her clasp stroke away. No matter. Nerissa supposed that it would only prove as a catalyst.

"We split the profits, hm? Seen as you're using my cell.."

Nerissa only felt her skin growing paler, her waist cinching as she came to look softly cream. No matter at all..

Even at the cost of her recruits. It would take time to find what she was looking for anyway.


	17. Chapter 17

It ought to be easier for Nerissa , though the glamour seemed faithless to her - the magic that presented her as a more youthful for was persistent to ebb. She refused to look unjust. "My boy.."

Khor growled his responses to her; his life now dependant on her energies because of how long he had starved. The poor beast of loyal destruction only winced and whined when beside him fell an avalanche of icicles that crushed into one another, barely a fraction of the blistering cold points that travelled up for miles. They hit the smoky rock in a heap and then stood, already half a man.

"Oh, dear Tridart.." Her voice sang in sweet melody, the shivering intimidator cracking his neck and sending out splinters of the ice that made his frozen skin and body. Fisted hands broke into fingers and palms..droplets of the purest waters rolling away the sharp of his angular ridges. Revealing a muscular build. "My despair, my boy you are with no good reason to be afraid."

At this Nerissa turned to the glistening emerald eyes that seemed startled to realize she knew that he was present. After all, she had been the order to have the Hunter fetch him once again. "_N-Nerissa.._"

**...**

"I don't think we've met yet.." The softest smile whispered tenderly from her, a radiance glowing calmly from violet-lilac eyes that glistened. Caleb pushed closed his awe-parted lips, because he wanted by no means for her to think it was a compliment; her flawless façade - for it had to be a façade - swaying to him before a delicate hand reached toward him. With hesitation, Caleb forced his gaze to the eyes that didn't fit her, nor the radiant creamy skin.. Perhaps he was imagining things, but- Caleb's eyes flashed behind her, as the volcanic masses of lava splashed; he could barely spot the womanly figure protruding gracefully in the background, but the pit of his stomach stirred all the same. He went to shake her hand, but the woman's fingers somehow laced over his far more intimately than intended..for him. He swallowed at her playful smile. "Caleb.."

**...**

Hay Lin felt smothered with every step she took. The bitter wind and iced snow crawled over her skin in aura's of despair, the cross of fear and longing filling her. Caleb was in there and a strong sensation pulled her toward the line of _Vengeance_ that stood between the 'door'. And the wind pushed away. Screams of pain and sorrow and anguish sliced past her cheeks threatening and warning. "H-he's in th-there..?"

"I need a way past them." Soft pupils darted to Cornelia's look of surety and command, before turning over to her least expected rival. Will shivered in the cold, her glazed eyes taking over Cornelia silently because there was nothing left to say. It was never close to Hay Lin's expectancy, and Irma had curtly informed her that she'd always known. Before Caleb apparently.. And that helping and encouraging it was possibly the biggest mistake she could've made because Will didn't even look at Caleb. And Cornelia was the one really fighting him. "Irma, Hay Lin."

The atmosphere itself would have frozen the lake as Irma formed it, but a sweet voice whispered it's longing for her, it's welcoming beckon that promised the heat of life itself within the walls of this volcano.. Irma had already spread the great waters and with a sweep of her hand through the cutting air, it reluctantly headed back toward the entrance. It didn't matter what was in there: there was no influence nor element that could be trusted like Caleb could. She would do anything to save him.

Because Caleb had always done everything to save her. "Air!"_  
><em>


	18. Chapter 18

Okay.. I am sorry and sorry and sorry and sorry.. But most of my Nerissa image comes from the comics and I'd already gathered this idea of her as a minx before I saw the comics.. The cartoon's evil is really never going to be 'Nerissa' to me and I'm SORRY. For this Mindf**k. :P

* * *

><p>Cornelia Hale threw herself across the ice, willing herself to skate along and doing so in a graceful manner. Irma forced out a cool breath and watched through the parting condensation that passed her lips. Elegance drove her, and a strong pit in her stomach desperately refused to waver as Will frowned against her shaking. Desperately hiding it. Or trying, at least: Irma refused to pity Will..but all the same, Irma couldn't deny feeling something. "C'mon, let's go. We'll set the distraction.."<p>

Will swallowed at Taranee's words and Irma opened her mouth before closing it again. And then she opened it again, "Because Cornelia's strongest. We're better out here because Caleb needs us to work properly.."

It was a stupid think to say, but Taranee's plumped lips formed a hint of a smile. "Just like old times."

**...**

Cornelia made a hard right as Frost lunged at her, but ice-blue eyes widened when she headed straight for his rhinoceros-resembling mount, it's smoky breaths puffing from his nostrils and destruction in his eyes. "Ahh!"

The Tracker's flail had hurled around her ankle and Cornelia cried out as she flipped, but rolled directly beneath the great beast. Her sharp pupils looking directly into the shadowed red of what appeared to be the Tracker's eyes. And she smiled, a smug poise on her face.

"Nice try sucker. Thanks!" She pushed herself up and heard an obscenity coming from outside in Irma's curse of the _'malignant idiots'_. A grin formed in face of the fact that Irma undoubtedly had no idea what she was talking about, and Cornelia smacked a wall from the ground to fittingly bat away the enemy's predictable swarm of bats.

**...**

Nerissa heard the echo of voice and Caleb's eyes had traced it's echo outside these cratered walls. Nerissa swept her hand from his, for he had never bothered to let go, and let it gather his attention; gliding over the callous of his cheek. She pursed her lips as he sucked in tense, fearful breath. He didn't like abrupt intimacy then, though she wouldn't tell the way he let Will smudge her hands all over his face; still half asleep this morning. Nerissa preferred the frigid conservatism. And pushed the tip of her nose to brush past his and his thick, strangled breathing. "Oh, don't worry.."

As soon as she let the proximity go, he stumbled back and she'd turned away but heard him fall; the quiver of his frame in mind as she swayed her hips, throughly aware of his wide eyes following her. It was a shame she had to leave at all.

"I'll be back, little desperation." Nerissa turned to smile one more time, his chest heaving slightly out of urgency. He was, after all.. Quite a catching sight.

**...**

"A Gaea.." Miranda watchfully studied the distant scene; Raythor holding his blade point to the ground as he stared in the face of his Vengeance. Because Vathek had caused his near-demise. Because Cedric had believed him. But the Guardians had been the ones to start the digging of a whole and Raythor had told her his smelling of a rat in their wake. "I thought something stank of mould."

"How dare you.."

Miranda's eyes caught something else and she slipped back. Her lips tingled from what had never come and Miranda couldn't ignore the leak of bubbling boils protruding from a crack that hadn't been there this morning. That hadn't been there when she had returned with her prisoner.. She might've had restricted capacity, but Prince Phobos had made sure that Miranda was educated from the time that she'd spent there.

She knew that dormant did not mean extinct.


	19. Chapter 19

Nerissa swept through the shadows as an unseen predator. There ought not be a chance, was the woman not clearly deviating a longer story.. And it was the duty of Kandrakar to watch over, with no allowance to intrude with the outer world. A place with every significance and yet none..

Halinor had never died for her fear of. It had been harder, and everything had been harder once Cassidy had died. The Oracle, _Himerish_, had read her like a book and Halinor never regret the opportunity to stay though possibly the fact that it was one of two options. She might've been banished.. _Would _have been banished as every mortal was. Kandrakar had the most select refinement of council and it was a privilege to be in it..even if she had not agreed before Cassidy..

The Guardian of Earth seemed to have inherited her own Kadma's pride, the blonde beauty standing tall with intense deliberation in her features and her chest thrust forward as natural instinct to puff up her intimidating physique. Halinor almost smiled, having only found herself watching as the unknown _fine warrior _took Luba's attention in the centre for the aurameres. The sands of a place called Torus Filney danced silently on the frightened winds, though Halinor only knew as much from her own element's call. The Guardian's were winning, because Nerissa was letting them do so.

But even a Taranee Cook was not enough to sense the volcanic eruption about to infuse. Halinor shook and held herself restrained from the Oracle who meditated silently. He would have to have known: a natural disaster.

It would bring balance though. "What are you doing?"

**_Halinor.._**

"What are you doing! They're all going to die!"

The Oracle's calm, childish eyes turned to smile at her. **_But look.._**

**...**

The walls shifted, barely noticeable to those inside them. But Caleb noticed and he'd noticed when the bump had faltered.. Nerissa had been.. And now he found himself in fear of yelling; of pounding rocks in call of help, because something was coming. Hot, liquid flames which he had never learned enough about. He couldn't remember: why couldn't he remember? Caleb's fingers scraped back the hair he needed cut again in flustered motion; the strange temperatures causing his entire body to a breaking sweat and he didn't know what to do.. How to get out.. Nerissa had walked away, but when he had finally followed the exit was gone. Or never there. "T-the.. We're about to die."

"I know.." Caleb's eyes glistened in sheer frustration; in despair and longing for what he'd wasted his time on.. He should've done what he wanted. He should've done everything that he wanted. He should've.. He should have kissed the girl, rather than pretending that Will would ever look at him again. She had said _'loved'_. She had said she _'loved' _him and Caleb had ruined everything! And then he double took and gazed at her small frame stood before him. "I know! What the hell are you-"

Her face contorted in surprise and disgust, and Caleb bit down on the rudeness Meridian would take to that. More of Earth had taken to him than he'd intended and her lips pursed as she breathed.

"I-I'm s-sorry.. I-"

"We have to go. Now." And Caleb found that Will was impossible. There was no way he was leaving her and his eyes widened as the chil- woman implied letting everyone die.. He wasn't going to go. He'd rather- "They can make it out, but this is the centre, Caleb."

"How can I trust-"

"Who else is there to trust! The Gaea is the only one in here!"

**...**

"EARTH!" Cornelia smashed her fist out and screamed the call of her element, but fell regret once the men tumbled forward, yelling out because they had been followed. Thick lava spread as rapids and the boils splashed and blistered out..

"Aldarn!"


	20. Chapter 20

Drake seized the boy clutching his face and probably scalding his hand as he did so, Aldarn let him without any means to fight. Caleb would be dead.. Aldarn had screamed out to the oblivion the threats to Caleb being revoked and Drake felt his heart condensing at the fact that _he _had held the boy back from Frost.. With his own and Aldarn's little lives in mind. "Ton écho píra! Go! Go!"

"Drake!" Drake ran for what felt like eternity, the weight little but Aldarn writhed in his grips and Drake knew it couldn't be helped. Julian's shouts echoing as he pulled the single, struggling Guardian.. But it didn't last long and Drake supposed she didn't get the chance to assume anything but that Caleb was with them..

"Aldarn, please!"

"Keep going!"

"GO!" The lack of Knights suddenly of no concern to anyone; forgotten, and fled by Nerissa.

**...**

Ember stretched out her arms as she bathed in her fortress, her name embedded as forcefully as the pain she felt; the restrain it took, because destruction was not her namesake, Ember much preferred to feel the heat of his rotting face and hands as she protruded and fell into the fiery waters again.

In the years, her new master would forsake her, but she had once belonged to the prison of the mountain, and Ember - the molten magma of Mount Thanos - stretched out her limbs for one last course of her acting freely. _Nerissa _was what she had been born for, but pain had always been in the mountain.

**...**

There was not to be one death, despite the erupting Mountain. Luba felt the calm of Kandrakar grasping it's coy fingers to take her worries, if for the warrior standing tall. Never in a millennium, would Luba send for such a thing as favour to the boy. But Caleb had asked, and the Oracle had consented.

Orube stood proud, her corn-yellow eyes never bothering to consult the famous glowing aurameres as Luba had trained her that way, and her cropped hair pushed from her face to be held by a single pink ribbon. If playfulness was to be seen, the colour might be Orube's only ask of freedom. The woman was young and alive and Luba appreciated that Orube had no interest in matching the dead souls here. Orube did everything that was asked of her. "With respects, I'd like to decline if you-"

"This is no negotiation, Orube." A curt nod followed in respectful manner; Orube did not meet her eyes out of humility and stood tall out of dignity. Wilhelmina Vandom would need a guardian and had needed one all along in Luba's personal opinion. Now the opinion was granted.

"Then I accept on terms of your forgiveness." A smile might have formed in Luba's features, the catlike yellow eyes of her prime standing to attention. She was ready and Luba trusted in her. "My rudeness was unmerited."

"Of course, Orube you have my trust. And my forgiveness."

"I will not fail you."

* * *

><p>Please, my first attempt and it's her most formal as Luba is with her, but if I'm doing Orube wrong, please tell me.. :)<p> 


	21. Chapter 21

Before we even begin, a gofer is an errand boy: a 'second option/class' of friend.

* * *

><p>The littler form of Will Vandom did not take her eyes from Aldarn, Drake pulled his hands away and promised a Mage to heal what could be healed. It was the fact that her eyes stung waterily that Cornelia choked remorse silently. Her thin lips quivered a need to say it, but she couldn't bare to further this girl's upset. When lava rolled it's final lengths on the battlefield; another world away. She couldn't remind Will the need to close the portal. She couldn't give her condolences to Aldarn.<p>

_ It wasn't real if no one else noticed that Caleb was missing._

And Taranee felt a burn of knowing such a thing. Of knowing that everyone had noticed; that Irma was watching Will. That Hay Lin had opened her mouth until Taranee's palm had covered it. That Drake knew, but also knew that now Aldarn was more important..because a dead man couldn't hurt as much as a little boy. Even if he was sixteen. Julian had noticed; Taranee's eyes crept to the man who'd lost his son all over again. A single tear ran down her cheek because he choked and Will turned and.. "N-no.."

"Will-" Drake stood, but Will lunged forward.

"NO! LET ME-" Instantly spilling, her thoughts incoherently splashed through Taranee's mind. Only Drake's hands were too full to jump her, but in the end Will had cut herself off. _He wasn't hers.. He was dead.. He was gone.. _The constancy of Will's mind evaporated and Taranee swallowed. But something she hadn't expected had stepped and protruded itself. "N-no.."

"Will, I'm sorry.." She hadn't noticed that Irma was already crying. And the set sun allowed an early moon to coat Irma's remorseful features. "I'm sorry about everything I said and I didn't mean it and I didn't really want to- and I really love you and your my best friend and I-"

"Jesus, am I just your gofer?"

**...**

Caleb's eyes rested on the lank form trembling slightly, her gaunt eyes glazed in their honey colour and she looked more tired than he remembered her from earlier. He was sure that Irma's were not the only pair of outsiders' eyes on him and for once Caleb didn't care. He let his gaze fall to the mud and grass of Meridian, but then he didn't need to.

Rouge lips hungrily sought his and his instinct was her waist as her thin arms throttled him. He couldn't concentrate; he couldn't breath. He didn't care and frenzied with her as the sweet taste tingled against his lips, her frame searching for further ways to press against him and Caleb wasn't sure whether to close his eyes in case he woke up. Caleb could feel the damp of tears against his face, but elation was not the word as he thanked the heavens for the gentle scent encasing him, barely taking note of the mess he was in and the perfection she could have and all of the things he would give to her and make for her and..

And Caleb hoped that she wouldn't notice, but everything had been happening forever.. And tears ran down his cheeks as he felt the fears and hopes and dedications and the overwhelming happiness of Will.

**...**

If any man were to have doubted, Drake smiled softly as Julian set his eyes on the display. Of tears and kisses and hearts. Both clumsily clasping for the other as Will scrabbled for his neck; her fingers tangling in Caleb's hair. Caleb grasped her jaw with a far greater softness and there was never such a strength in undoubted need, as lips clashed together and Will trembled with sticky, tear-stained cheeks. Caleb's eyes seemingly melting under the pressure of overwhelming gratitude to some God of Fate: a haze of blurry salt-water clouding him to and Drake could only abide to the silence. Everyone could only abide to the silence. As her words gushed out in quick breaths. "I'm s-sorry, and I need you! And I can-n't do this and I don't want you to g-get- And I thought I lost you and I did and I- I-"

"Will," If Julian had blamed Will for anything, he would be coerced now to see that she was the solution. Drake bet Julian had never seen a grin like that, Caleb's forehead against hers as they refused to let go of their latch to one another; of their gazes on one another. "I love you."

Serenity was only fuelled as Will only blubbed again; Drake would never imagine to see 'this' girl cry so much as he had. "I love you too, Caleb! I don't want you to leave me and I'm s-sorry and I love you and I can't.."

The only way to drown out the cries, Drake turned back to Aldarn as the fates spread their kindness. He knew there was an entrance into the depths of the infinite city nearby, and he prayed the entire Metaworld that he could save something before Aketon looked at his son again. "Come on, l-let's get that fixed."

A thousand thanks went to Aldarn's silence, though Drake felt a relief when he'd checked that the boy _could _speak. "I- I didn't mean to scare you, Drake.."

"Don't be stupid." It was getting increasingly harder to remember himself. To bluntly lie to the shaking boy who's skin had to be screaming. He had seen the restraint and heard the noise when Will had closened. "I don't care if you die. I never will."

Aldarn grinned then seethed and Drake finally pressed his lips to Aldarn's head. If there was ever meant to be an equality, fairness never seemed to fully equate. Someone was always dying to some extent. "I'm really sorry!"

"Shhst, you didn't do a thing, Aldarn. Come on, before Caleb really just starts professing himself."

* * *

><p>I'm sorry about the amount of cheese in that chapter, but seriously.. There was no other way. :L<p> 


	22. Chapter 22

I'm sorry that Matt was such an asshole but it had it's purpose to show how much the things people say can mess someone up.. Even if he is being enthralled.

* * *

><p>Will fumbled against coarse lips, pulling them taunt and praying him not to notice the quivers of fears embedded. It shouldn't have been this hard to touch him, but Matt kept screaming in her ears and Will only scrabbled for foundation; wincing when she bit against his lips. "Will.."<p>

Cinnamon eyes widened as he pushed her against her own door; Meridian a lost empire to them now and she pushed her fingers through his lengthening hair. She couldn't seem to tell him, her lips parting as she pulled back, but she couldn't tell him and it screamed into her ears. _'You owe me.' _Will laced her arms around him and desperately seeked his warmth as fireworks and tingles ran through her along with the suffocating knowing that she wasn't enough. She wasn't enough and it was worse like this.

It was worse if he realized she wasn't what he was looking for. Will pulled back and forced her cheek against his built chest, she could drown in his scent and only pushed her fingers to lace between his as an attempt for grounding that did not come. "I- I don't think I'm what you wanted."

"You're right. I hated you." Will grinned and breathed a laugh, the bitter after taste sliding down the back of her throat, because..he was joking. He was joking and he didn't understand that it was more of a warning than anything else. His warm, perspiring skin against hers as his lips mingled with her hair. "I'm so glad you made me come here.. I might've never looked back.."

"Yeah.." Will swallowed the resentment of how Drake and Aldarn had slipped away when no one was looking. Resentment of how she had the audacity to resent Aldarn.. Aldarn.. She had forgotten.. And Caleb didn't ever even have a chance to care. "R-right."

She didn't want him to be so good.. She didn't want to owe him.

**...**

Aldarn feebly ignored the silence; his pain long gone and the Mage apparently still stood silent in the City. His fingers briefly curling over what ought to have been a much bigger scar, the grafting barely more than that of - as Drake would say it - an ugly man. He owed Drake his life, and Aldarn knew that he was sixteen. He was supposed to be a man now. He was expected to be married within the year or so.

His father kept staring, and Aldarn hated the scent that seemed to follow him; the awful burning of flesh that purged his soul and he was glad that Caleb had been okay. He was glad that Will was apparently going to be okay and Julian's eyes had rested firmly on his cheek beneath Aldarn's eye as he said it, before eventually the man relieved himself to say it was a blessing Aldarn could see.

Aldarn didn't dare tell Julian he was out of focus from Aldarn's left.

**...  
><strong>

Caleb's eyes widened, her tongue venturing the contents of his mouth and she was suddenly-

"Jeeze! That's mine!" Caleb's hand instantly pushed her inching thigh back from too close between his legs for him to be comfortable with, but he then realized from the heat blushing on her cheeks that she hadn't realized. And that that was a stupid thing to say. "That was a stupid thing to say."

A smile graced her lips, and one that Caleb felt as though he'd never seen before. The blissful relief in her eyes of some revelation that he'd never know or ask her. Whatever it was, it made her beautiful; tracing invisible images against his shirt with her delicate fingers, caressing away the hoarse effects of time. Her lips curving, barely, to reveal the true sense of tranquillity he hadn't seen in aeons. "D- Will you really stay?"

"Will you let me?" It took a single move to pull him back, lain against the bed with perfection in the midst of their insanities.. Tonight they had nothing; there was nothing to be done. "Everything for you, or else I can't be me."

There was nothing to be done, but pull her silly frog patterned duvet over the pair of them, and hope the world found a constant in the same ways that he had. "Th-thank you."

The quiver in her voice made him think of something he'd said earlier. "You're really really beautiful, Will.. I've never seen anyone like you and I really like your smiles..all of them. I like when you say sarcastic things to me and you always know what to say. You care about the same things too, but I think you're alot better in alot of ways.. Your not nearly selfish enough and I think it makes me crazy." The silence made him wonder how long it would take for her to fall asleep, and he had seen it when he'd been coming in: the cereal bowl still lain untouched. There went another day. How long would it take him to reveal all of his secrets to her? "I'd never had a hug before you. And I wanted to give you everything.. You were all I ever wanted enough to look for and I.. I'd trade everything in to keep you... You're..."

**...**

"You're...back." Cornelia Hale's eyes lingered on the kind eyes smiling at her, and Peter grinned more when some sense of relief filled her. As if he knew. Though he never would; not the relief that came from distraction as she slid her arms easily around his neck, pressing her cold cheek to his warm and gazing behind him to the entrance of her building. "Taranee's gone home.."

"I'm not meant to be home until tomorrow.." Her pulse raced at his soft voice before the words hit her and she flushed at his implication.

"I can't do that!"

"What?"

"Oh."

"What?" Cornelia averted her gaze as he raised a questioning eyebrow.. And then the other as he laughed. "That's not what I meant!"

"I don't know what you're talking about.." She lifted her nose, but he pulled her chin down so that she faced him. Ambience and cars filling the background noise from the nearby downtown, the cool breeze of an early night washing over her.

"You look really beautiful." Coarse lips pressed against hers, very barely, and Cornelia let her eyes close over the façade.. Everything he did was so amazing, but every time he was gone Cornelia's gaze was averted. Couldn't she like just one person? His lips gave her shivers for the fires when Caleb brushed his hands over her cheek every so often.. She was so confused.. "Not that you don't know that."

"You're not so bad yourself, superstar.. You wanna crash on my couch?"

"Nah, I'll go home later.."

Cornelia let her fingers slide over his firm hands.. Icy blue studied the chocolatey skin and she bit her lip before pressing her lips against his again in the first hints of Earthly moonlight. "Thank you.. For coming to see me.."

He had no idea how good his timing was and she smiled as he pushed his forehead against her own. "Always.."

**...**

In the dusk of the morning, Meridian began to reshed it's light. Elyon watched Caleb's form tread the distance from a portal she had formed, one that led directly outside Will's building and had ultimately led to their saviour. Well.. Elyon barely glowed in the last of the night-time, her heart stinging at the thought of Aldarn's expression. She was glad he was here, really.

Aldarn was wonderful to everyone and Drake had already warned her that Caleb didn't know.. Hadn't seen. In a wishful second, Queen Elyon stood within the roses, her power a beacon in her hands. "I didn't think you were coming back.."

"She's asleep..Your Majesty." Caleb's eyes searching off into the distance.

"I meant in general."

"I know."

"Caleb, I need to tell you something.. I don't think you know, but.."

* * *

><p>A lot of hurt souls and I am on the verge of weeping guiltily for doing that to Aldarn.. And I couldn't.. Just couldn't kill him TT. He is far too adorable to die! :')<p> 


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